Weapon and Wielder
by Deranged Black Kitten
Summary: Ben dying just doesn't work for 11 year old Kevin and his plans for revenge. "After all you put me through, killing you should have been my right!" So he decides to remedy his problem with a little magical help. Dark Bevin fic. Soul Eater X-over... kinda
1. Chapter 1

_Yet another resurrection fic, similar in some ways to my story, Numb, yet very different at the same time. This story is inspired by the series Soul Eater, an anime I've never actually watched before, but my past roommate once watched the entire series, so I caught glimpses of the show out of the corner of my eye. I love the idea of someone becoming a weapon and someone else wielding that weapon, so I came up with this story. The whole 'eating souls' thing eventually got worked into this story idea too. It's not necessary to have watched Soul Eater to understand this considering that I've never actually watched Soul Eater either.  
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_**Warnings: **As you should probably expect at this point with anything written by me, this story is/will be very dark and twisted. So read at your own risk. (I might be changing the rating to M later on)  
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_Story jumps around in time and features psycho!Kevin who was never sent to the Null Void where he (I'm assuming) ended up detoxing, and also features undead!Ben._

_**Disclaimer: **I don't own Ben 10 and I don't own Soul Eater. Don't sue me. _**  
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**Dearly Departed**

He was eleven and though it was just the start of September, the cool chill of the fall season could already be felt in the air. The wind whipped around him, blowing black bangs across his line of sight. His eyes narrowed down at the grave before him.

"Should have known."

His lips pulled back into a snarl, his teeth bared.

"Should have known the second I suddenly changed back to normal that you had screwed up somewhere along the way."

What he _should_ have been was happy. This was what he wanted, wasn't it? And he didn't even have to put any effort into it himself. If anything, he should be dancing on the grave in front of him, laughing at it and mocking it.

But he wasn't, he didn't. Instead, he just stood there sullenly, glaring at the tombstone.

"It was supposed to be me. _I _was supposed to be the one to do this. This should have been _my_ revenge! After all you put me through, killing you should have been _my_ right!"

He crushed the white lilies that someone else had left beneath his foot. Shaking his head, Kevin turned to leave.

"Guess we're both losers in the end anyway, huh Benji?"

* * *

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**Stitches**

He was eleven and winter was fast approaching. Deep within the heart of the city, their breaths could easily been seen in the cold air, yet he was the only one who shivered and unlike him, it wasn't body heat that warmed the other's breath, but magic.

Seated on a building's stoop, trying to ignore his rage for the boy sitting next to him, Kevin examined the stitches encircling the slim wrist of the limb he held in his grasp. As he prodded at the sewn up wound, his eyes immediately darted up to the boy's face for a reaction, and when he received none, Kevin frowned in disappointment and directed his attention back to the other boy's arm, noting how the hand remained limp. Completely unmoving.

"Just sewed it back on then, did they? Didn't bother with reattaching anything on the inside, but then, why would they?"

He received no response aside from a dull green, unblinking gaze and he wondered for a moment why he bothered wasting his breath. Kevin sometimes questioned if Ben could even understand the words that were coming out of his mouth. The other boy spoke so little if he even spoke at all.

Or maybe Kevin was being _ignored. _Maybe this was all just a _facade. Maybe he was being tricked!_

His fingers wrapped around the wrist, directly over the stitches, and squeezed as hard as he could. There was no flinch though, no wince or cry of pain, no reaction at all.

His flared anger and suspicions died down a bit.

"Pretty useless now, aren't ya?" he said, purposely goading.

All he got was a slow blink of those green eyes, certainly not the offended look or the snappy come-back he had been hoping for.

"Got no powers, no stupid omnitrix for me to drain, and now you don't even got the use of both your hands."

Another blink, more staring, but still no response. Kevin frowned. Insulting someone was just no fun when the person couldn't even perceive that they were being insulted.

"Useless. A complete waste of my time," Kevin muttered, more to himself this time. "Shouldn't even bother keeping you around. Can't even give me what I want like this."

This time he did receive a response, but as always, the tone was dull, lifeless, the voice sounding scratchy from lack of use, "I will try to be more adequate for _Reviver."_

Kevin groaned, "I told you not to call me that. Use my first name, or my last name, or anything else but _that."_

It would seem that that was all the talking that Ben would be doing that night though, and so he gave no response.

Kevin grabbed hold of Ben's dead left hand before thinking better of his decision and grabbing the boy's right hand instead. It wasn't that didn't want to hurt the other boy (because he _did. _He wanted to hurt Ben even more than Ben had hurt him. He wanted to make the stupid brunette _scream_), but he didn't want to accidentally tear the stitches and rip the boy's hand off at the wrist _completely. _That'd be gross, and Kevin would be the one who would end up having to sew it back on, which was even more gross.

He dragged the boy up off the stoop and lead him along down the street. Later on, when he had been digging through a trashcan for something to eat (they had to keep a low profile for the time-being, so that meant holding off on the stealing for a little while), he found an old, ratty-looking scarf that really wouldn't have provided much warmth to begin with, so he turned it into a sling to keep Ben's worthless left arm out of the way.

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**Chase**

He was fourteen and red fall leaves crunched beneath his pounding feet, scattered across the ground and on the branches of the trees like blood splattered on the walls and floor. Not so far ahead of him, Ben ran; panting and zigzagging around trees, wide green eyes occasionally snapping back to Kevin. Growling, Kevin put on another burst of speed and tackled the other boy to the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

Gasping and coughing, when Ben finally regained his breath, he shouted tearfully, "No, Kevin, _stop!"_

Fingers fisting into brunette hair, Kevin slammed the other boy's head against the ground with a harsh snap of, "_Shut-up!_"

Electricity crackling in his hands, Kevin slammed his palms against Ben's chest, watching with a wild, gleeful expression as the other boy cried out in pain, writhing beneath him. When the electricity stopped, Ben struggled and kicked and managed to push him away. He shakily backpedaled on the ground, the red leaves rustling around him.

Grabbing a nearby fallen tree branch, Kevin rose to his feet and slowly stalked towards Ben. He took his time to absorb Ben's fearful expression, the tears falling from those green eyes, Ben's quick, panting breaths, the way his slim arms shook and struggled to hold himself up.

Raising the tree branch high, Kevin slammed it against the side of the other boy's head with a _crack_, effectively downing the brunette and stopping any further attempts at escaping. Blood poured out from the wound left behind, but moments later, a flash of pink magic washed over the wound and sealed it up. That small dose of reality only made Kevin's anger and rage grow inside.

He slammed the branch down against Ben's shoulder, then his side, then his back, and then his head again. He slammed the tree branch down over and over until blood splashed out and stained the ground around them; trying to see if he could outrun the pink magic's healing ability, if he could wear it out and make Ben bleed permanently.

He finally stopped, exhausted, and let the branch slip from his grasp. He slumped down into a sitting position next to Ben's curled up form and watched as one last flash of pink sealed up the rest of the wounds. For awhile, their panting breaths and Ben's sniffling was the only sound to be heard.

Suddenly Ben's panting and quiet crying stopped. The brunette uncurled on the ground and shifted over so that he was lying next to Kevin, his side pressed against Kevin's leg. Kevin glanced down at the other boy, frowning at the sight of the dull green eyes that gazed back up at him.

"Did I satisfy _Reviver's_ needs?" Ben asked, tilting his head curiously. "Was my performance of 'fear' adequate enough?"

Kevin grit his teeth because _no, _it hadn't satisfied his mind's grating need for revenge. The anger was still there, the betrayal. None of it had been lessened in the slightest because he hadn't been able to stop himself from knowing the whole time that Ben had been faking fear, that he had been faking the tears and the screaming, that the other boy couldn't even really feel the pain from the blows Kevin delivered.

He didn't answer Ben's questions because maybe by not answering them, Ben would feel as if he had somehow failed Kevin, and from what Kevin had noticed over the years, Ben didn't seem to like it when he disappointed Kevin. At the moment, making Ben doubt himself seemed to be the only sort of revenge Kevin could really get.

Instead, he said, "How many times have I told you not to call me that? _Three years_ and you'd think it would have sunk in by now!"

* * *

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**Consumption**

He was thirteen and he was more afraid than he had ever been in his whole life. It was summer time, a time when most kids his age would be happily enjoying their time off from school, laughing and playing and enjoying their childhood...

..But not him.

"Oh fuck," he whispered with poorly concealed terror. "Ben..."

Blood pooled on the grungy, tiled floor of this back-alley meeting place for shady dealings, slowly spreading across the floor to Kevin's feet. He took a quick step back from the oncoming flood of red. His stomach turned at the sickening sloshing noise which was quickly followed by a tearing sound that sent another splash of blood against one of the walls.

"What... _What?_"

Just '_what.' _He couldn't get out any other words. His mind could barely even process the scene before him.

'_He deserved it,_' he tried telling himself. '_That man deserved it.'_

There was a snapping sound of a bone breaking followed by another tearing noise and a wet slap as some sort of blood-soaked _part_ was carelessly tossed to the side.

He finally found his voice.

"Fucking hell, Tennyson, _what are you even doing?_"

Ben, covered in blood and not seeming to care, glanced up from the dead body he was hunched over, the dead body of a full-grown man that _Ben_ had just killed. The younger boy's hands were buried in the body's chest cavity, having been pulling it apart and fishing around for something for the past several minutes.

"_Reviver_ need not concern himself," Ben said simply before turning back to whatever it was that he was doing with the body.

Kevin stumbled back against one of the walls, one that _wasn't _splattered with blood, and cupped his hands over his nose and mouth, trying to mask the metallic scent that permeated the air.

With one last ripping noise, Ben gave a hum of accomplishment and pulled one hand out of the body. Within Ben's bloody grasp was something Kevin had never seen before. It glowed white in some areas, but for the most-part glowed red, and it kind of looked like a small fish with long flowing fins. Whatever it was, it squirmed wildly in Ben's fingers.

"What is _that?_" Kevin asked, his voice muffled by his hands.

"Don't know," Ben said, carefully examining the glowing thing he held. "I can sense all the body's remaining life-energy within it though. _Body's soul_, maybe?"

Before Kevin could even respond to that, Ben popped the fish thing into his mouth and swallowed it whole. Kevin paled, and his mind was immediately drawn back to the night that he and that witch, Charmcaster, had brought Ben back to life; how the first thing Ben did upon opening his eyes was attack Charmcaster and try to feed off of her magic.

* * *

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**Blade**

He was twelve and he was all tapped out of power, meaning that he was in trouble. It was springtime in the city, and Kevin had figured that enough time had passed since he dug up Ben's grave and resurrected the body within, so he probably didn't need to worry so much about laying low. He went back to his old ways of stealing and conning, except now he had a loyal partner-in-crime.

Funny that his partner-in-crime was once again Ben, but this time he didn't have to worry about Ben betraying him because for some reason the other boy was blindly obedient to Kevin, most likely due to the resurrection.

Unfortunately, Ben's acting skills left something to be desired so it wasn't too surprising that a bunch of older kids caught on to the fact that they were being conned. Understandably, the older kids didn't appreciate being tricked and decided to chase Kevin and Ben, who was completely useless as usual without the omnitrix, into a nearby alley to teach them a 'lesson.' Kevin had tried to ward them off with his electrical abilities, but he quickly ran out of juice and, well, here they were now. Backed into a corner.

Kevin grit his teeth, glaring at the four teens who had them surrounded, and for good measure tossed a glare at Ben who stood by his side, watching the proceedings with his usual dull, passive expression.

Then one of the teens grabbed Kevin's arms in a vice-like grip, slamming him up against the concrete wall, and Kevin could have sworn he saw an emotion of some sort flash across Ben's eyes. Kevin couldn't waste anymore thought on that matter though because the teen that had him pinned had curled one hand into a fist, pulling his arm back to strike.

Suddenly Ben was moving and there was a flash of white light with a pink tinge that consumed the arm that wasn't in a sling. In the next second, the younger boy's entire arm had transformed into a long silver blade which he had pressed up against the throat of one of the other teens.

"Let him go or I'll slit your friend's throat," Ben rasped, his once dull tone now deadly serious.

The teen immediately dropped Kevin, his hands raised defensively as he backed away.

"Is _Reviver_ okay?" Ben asked, still not moving the blade away from the other teen's throat.

"I'm alright, Ben," Kevin said, feeling a little rattled by the whole thing. "You can let him go."

Ben stepped back from the teen, but didn't yet lower the blade, and immediately returned to Kevin's side. Regaining his bearings just a bit, Kevin folded his arms over his chest and raised a condescending eyebrow at the four teens.

"I'd think twice before trying to mess with us again," Kevin said, lips twisting up into a smirk. "You can go now."

The four teens fled from the alley and Kevin let out a shaky breath as soon as they were out of sight. As Ben lowered the blade to his side, Kevin carefully eyed the weapon that made up Ben's entire right arm.

"How'd you do that?" Kevin asked, hesitantly reaching out and poking the blade to confirm that it was in fact real. "You couldn't do it before."

"I don't know," Ben said, passive tone back once again. "It just... came as instinct."

'_Maybe this is a result of bringing him back from the dead?' _Kevin wondered.

Whatever the reason, having an ability like this at his disposal would be extremely helpful. Suddenly Ben wasn't so useless after all.

"This is awesome," Kevin said with a grin, running his fingers along the flat surface of the blade, being careful not to cut himself. "Now _no one_ can stand in our way."

* * *

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_That's all for now! I've got tons more ideas for this particular universe though and they're all going to be written in this way where I jump around in time between different events. There's just something fun about not having to write a story out in any particular linear fashion. _

_I'd love to hear what you guys think, if you like this universe, if you'd like to read more about it. Is it too confusing the way I jump around in time? _

_Any reviews would be greatly appreciated. :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_I've decided that at the start of each little excerpt, I will be listing Kevin's age along with each title to make it easier for everyone all around to have a basic idea of when things are happening._

_Disclaimer: I don't own Ben 10 and I don't own the various ideas that I'm borrowing from the Soul Eater series._

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**Rise of the Undead – Age 11**

Kevin couldn't accept it, couldn't accept that Ben was dead and that it wasn't by his own hands. It was a hollow victory and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. On more than one occasion, he'd wished that he could go back in time and stop Ben from dying just so that he could kill the boy himself, or maybe bring Ben back to life just long enough to get his revenge. He never knew that those were actually possibilities until he met Charmcaster and found out about the wonders of the dark side of magic.

Fortunately for him, Charmcaster also had a bone to pick with the Tennyson family. Her need for revenge rested more with Ben's cousin, Gwen, than anything though, but since hurting Ben would be dealing a psychological blow to Gwen, Charmcaster agreed to assist Kevin in his plan.

Since time-travel could be messy, they decided to go with the resurrection spell, and it wasn't long before they were digging up Ben's grave under a starry sky and a crescent moon. Opening up the coffin, Kevin couldn't help but find it kind of fitting that they were doing this so close to Halloween. He cringed at the signs of decomposition–the stitched up left wrist from where Ben's murderer undoubtedly stole the omnitrix–and adverted his eyes, climbing out of the grave to let Charmcaster do her thing.

"We'll need a blood offering," she'd said, holding out a knife to him. "For _control._"

"Why me?"

"You're the one who wanted to do this the most," she had said hostilely.

And so Kevin sucked it up and cut open his palm, letting the his blood dribble into Charmcaster's silver bowl along with whatever other ingredients she had in there, and then she began chanting the odd language of the spell. As the pink magic poured into the brunette's still body, the signs of decomposition began to fade, yet they didn't fade completely even when the spell finished. Ben was still pale as a sheet, he still had dark circles around his eyes, and that stitched-up wrist hadn't healed in the slightest.

None of that mattered to Kevin though, because he was just going to kill Ben in the end anyway. When Ben sucked in his first breath and his eyes snapped open, Kevin felt a rush of glee. His moment of revenge had finally come. He would make Ben pay for all the torment the brunette had put him through. He would make him scream and cry and beg for mercy, and then he'd kill the ex-omnitrix hero, and no one could blame Kevin for anything because Ben was supposed to already be dead.

Then plans started going south when Ben shot out of that casket faster than Kevin could blink and suddenly had Charmcaster pinned; the brunette's right hand wrapped around her throat, pink energy radiating from the two of them.

"Call him off, Levin!" Charmcaster choked.

"_What?_"

"Tell him to stop!" she gasped.

Although he honestly didn't understand how anything he could say would help, Kevin still snapped out, "Let her go, Tennyson!"

And then just like that, Ben backed off, stepping away from Charmcaster and plopping down in the dug-up dirt next to his headstone. Charmcaster sat upright, gasping, and, throwing Ben a deathglare, she scolded, "Bad! _Bad vile zombie drone! _No! You don't do that to me or I'll send you right back to where you came from!"

A mildly disgruntled look passed across Ben's face before he turned an expressionless gaze in Kevin's direction and just _stared_ at him. It was... unsettling to say the least.

"What the hell was that?" he asked incredulously, keeping an eye on Ben in case the brunette made any sudden moves. "Why'd he listen to me?"

"Like I said, your blood was needed for _control,_" she explained. "It's kind of like attaching a leash to him. He's bound to you, he'll listen to you now. If we hadn't have done that, we would have just gotten an out-of-control undead creature like something from a zombie horror flick."

"Out of control like whatever he just did to you now?" Kevin snapped accusingly.

She glared at him, taking some sort of offense, and said, "From what I've read on the subject, what he did is pretty much normal for the recently revived. He has magic infused with him now, Levin. It's keeping his soul attached and it's keeping his body alive. He was probably just trying to feed on my magic to strengthen his own."

Pausing to throw an accusing glare Ben's way, she continued, "Even though if he had just _waited _a minute, he would have realized that he can naturally draw in magic from the world around him." she shook her head. "Does it even matter? Just do what you came here to do so that we can re-bury Tennyson and get out of here before someone shows up."

"Right," Kevin agreed, because the technicalities really didn't matter in the name of revenge. He could still kill Ben all the same, and Ben being obedient would just make the whole thing easier in the end.

Stepping around the open grave, Kevin grabbed a fistful of Ben's hair and jerked the brunette's head down as he hissed, "Well, Tennyson, got anything to say for yourself?"

But Ben didn't say a word. He didn't even flinch in pain at having his hair pulled. He just stared up at Kevin with a blank expression. Kevin was momentarily taken aback. He would have at least gotten a hateful glare from the other boy at this point. What was the big idea? Was Ben just trying to put on a brave front?

Growling, Kevin tightened his grip on Ben's hair and smashed the other boy's head against the gravestone before pushing the brunette back into the open coffin and slamming the coffin's lid down over him. Jumping down on top of the coffin to keep the lid closed, Kevin shouted down at the other boy, "How about now? Think you're so brave now? Got any last words to say to me, _hero?"_

Again, Ben said nothing. He didn't plead with Kevin, he didn't curse at Kevin, and he didn't bang on the coffin lid to be let out. Stepping to the side of the coffin, Kevin threw open the lid to see Ben calmly laying there, not at all looking upset, just staring up at Kevin.

"What the hell is this?" he snapped, looking over at Charmcaster. "What's wrong with him? This isn't Tennyson. He's.. he's not even bleeding anymore from where I hit him."

"Maybe the magic healed him," she said with a shrug. "It is what's keeping his body going right now, and I told you before we did all this that he wouldn't come back the same way."

"Understatement of the century! This isn't even close to being Tennyson!" Kevin shouted. "Maybe your dumb spell grabbed the wrong soul."

"My magic didn't mess up, this is just the way things go when you revive the dead," Charmcaster said heatedly.

"How would you know? You said that this was your first time doing this type of spell!"

"I did the research," Charmcaster said, her eyes glowing pink with anger.

Whatever Kevin had been planning on saying was cut off when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist, hugging him. He blinked in surprise, looking down to see the brunette hugging him close. Lips curling up into a snarl, Kevin pushed the other boy away, saying, "What the hell, Tennyson? Get off me!"

Looking up at Kevin with a blank expression, Ben finally opened his mouth and spoke.

"_Reviver_ looked upset."

As if that explained everything.

'_What? 'Reviver'?'_

"Course I'm upset," he said automatically. "You're a huge disappointment as usual." Shaking his head, Kevin climbed out of the open grave and turned to leave, saying, "Whatever. This was a dumb idea anyway. I'm outta here."

"What, you're not going to kill him?" Charmcaster asked. "After all this?"

"You kill him if it's so important to you," Kevin tossed over his shoulder before walking away.

The sound of footsteps following after him made him pause and turn around to see Ben standing behind him. Glaring at the other boy, Kevin ground out, "_Don't follow me, Tennyson._"

"He's bound to you, Levin, of course he's going to follow you," Charmcaster explained, then continued in an amused tone, "You know what? I think I'm gonna leave him alive for you. Let him follow you around everywhere like a wittle puppy." She cackled like the witch she was.

"Fine then, I'll kill him," Kevin snapped, grabbing hold of the collar of Ben's funeral clothes, briefly contemplating how he was going to do this.

...It would be so pointless though, killing Ben when the brunette was in this state. It would be even more hollow of a victory than it had been when it was someone else who had killed Ben. There was no sport to it, like shooting fish in a barrel, and deep down, Kevin knew it wouldn't bring him any sort of closure.

"Forget it," Kevin said, shoving Ben away. He left the cemetery, hearing the footsteps following after him and knowing that it was Ben who was walking in his wake. In the distance, he could hear Charmcaster's laughter again and his hands curled up into fists.

"Just don't get in my way, _alright Tennyson?_"

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**Thanksgiving – Age 11**

The only good thing about Thanksgiving was that the soup kitchens served a fairly decent turkey dinner. Kevin had visited various soup kitchens scattered about each city he stayed at many times in the past, and as such, it only made sense that he'd form a small connection with some of the regulars that worked at the soup kitchens. This was always helpful for if he ever wanted to get a little something extra to eat. Sometimes this so-called 'connection' could be annoying though.

"Kevin," the middle-aged woman greeted him kindly as she dished out his meal. Nodding to Ben who stood to his right, she said, "I see you brought a friend with you."

Kevin frowned, "He's not my friend. He's more like an annoying pet."

"Oh, I see," the woman said with an amused twinkle in her eyes. Looking over to Ben, she asked the brunette, "And what's your name, dear?"

Ben blinked up at her, but said nothing as usual.

"His name's Ben," Kevin supplied, frustration clear in his tone. "He doesn't talk much."

Nodding, as if that was completely normal, she handed over the two trays with the Thanksgiving meal on them, and luckily Ben had enough sense to actually take his tray. Smiling at them both, the woman said, "Happy Thanksgiving, dears."

"Yeah," Kevin grumbled. "Happy Thanksgiving."

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* * *

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**Over-dependent – Age 11**

"You know what? No. This just isn't going to work," Kevin said, tugging at his hair in frustration.

Back when they had first met, Ben knew next to nothing about living on the streets, and now it felt like the brunette knew even less than before. At least before, Ben had a fair amount of common sense, a mind of his own. Now though, he just followed Kevin around like a lost puppy, pretty much doing only what Kevin said and nothing else.

At first Kevin thought this was a good thing. It meant that he was the boss, and anyway, Ben _should_ be doing everything he says cause Kevin was older and smarter than Ben and that's just how it should be. After a while though, it got tiring.

"I'm flattered that you think I'm so amazing, Benji, and should be listened to above all else, but this is getting ridiculous," Kevin said frowning, hands on his hips. "I mean, yeah, if I tell you to do something, you do it. No question about that, but otherwise, could you at least _try_ and use that dumb zombie brain of yours? If you see a wallet or money on the ground, you pick it up and keep it! Also, don't cross a busy street to get to me, look both ways and wait until it's safe to cross first. And for god's sake, if someone offers you a free meal, don't just stare at them, _talk_ to them and accept the free meal!"

Kevin sighed, shaking his head, and muttered more to himself than anything, "What's the point in getting sympathy points for that damaged wrist of yours if you're not even gonna use them?" Turning his attention back to Ben, he asked, "Are you even understanding any of this?"

Ben cocked his head to the side, looking at Kevin carefully before saying, "I think so."

"Good, then prove it to me," Kevin said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ben frowned, "How?"

Pointing to the double doors of the Mall's front entrance that they stood before, Kevin said, "Go in there, _by yourself, _and steal something. Show me that you can actually act on your own without me being there to hold your hand."

Ben's gaze shifted back and forth between Kevin and the Mall's front entrance, an unsure look on the younger boy's face. Finally, he nodded and said, "Alright."

Turning on his heal, Ben went inside the Mall to carry out his mini mission, and Kevin waited out front next to one of the potted plants. He hugged his ragged hoody close to his body to combat against the winter chill, contemplating for a moment if he should go stand inside the Mall's front entrance where it was most likely warmer before deciding against it. There were security cameras in there and he didn't really feel too comfortable standing in their line of sight for too long, not when he was still kind of trying to keep a low profile.

Of course, sending an inexperienced Ben in to steal something wasn't exactly what one would consider a 'low profile,' but whatever. He needed to know that Ben could do this. On the one hand, it would show Kevin that Ben _was _capable of thinking on his own, on the other hand, it was proof that Ben was over his goody two-shoes ways and would have Kevin's back when things got less than legal. Plus, Ben would probably just steal something like a keychain (which was totally acceptable for this task Kevin had given him. It wasn't like he expected Ben to rob a jewelery store or anything), and really, what was the harm in taking something small like a keychain? Nothing, that's what.

And if Ben did get caught and get in trouble, then, again, _whatever. _Kevin would just ditch him. It wasn't like he cared about the stupid ex-hero. Ben was just a nuisance anyway. Mall Security would be doing Kevin a favor.

When Ben exited the Mall's double doors, walking casually as he did, Kevin had to blink in surprise because Ben was wearing a black and grey rather thick and warm looking winter coat. Kevin's gaze darted behind Ben, expecting to see Mall security running after the boy, but there was nothing of the sort.

"How'd you pull off sneaking that out?" Kevin asked in disbelief.

It was too thick for Ben to shove under his shirt, and the security cameras would have caught Ben putting the coat on and just walking out of the store. Kevin knew that Ben didn't have any money, but he still wondered if the other boy somehow cheated. Maybe he gave some sympathetic mother the puppy-dog eyes and convinced her to buy him the coat. Of course, did it really matter if that was the case? Doing something like that not only required foresight, it also required Ben to lie and be deceitful and that fit Kevin's needs just fine.

"I slipped it out of a woman's shopping bag when she wasn't looking," Ben explained simply.

"Oh," Kevin said, eying the coat. "Did anyone see you?"

Ben shrugged, "I dunno."

"We should probably get out of here then, just in case someone..." Kevin began, but then trailed off when Ben slipped off the coat and held it out to him. Kevin raised a questioning eyebrow at the brunette.

"_Reviver_ gets too cold too often," Ben explained, shoving the coat into Kevin's arms.

"You got the coat for me?" Kevin asked quietly, staring down at the stolen object. It was brand-new; nice, warm, and padded with down feathers. Slipping the jacket on, he zipped up the front and shoved his hands deep into the pockets, relishing in the warmth.

Kevin frowned and mentally scoffed, '_Tch, whatever. It's not like Tennyson is bothered by the cold anyway with that stupid magic keeping him warm. I would have just made him give me the jacket anyway. He just saved me some time.'_

Glaring down at the ground, Kevin snapped, "C'mon, _stitches, _before the rent-a-cops come."

He didn't need to look behind himself to know that, as he walked away, Ben automatically followed after him.

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**Fasting – Age 13**

Kevin was no saint, he knew that. He had come close to killing people–a prime example of that being the time he'd almost collided two trains together–and he had probably been responsible for a couple of alien deaths over the years. He couldn't know for sure, but he had definitely severely injured a couple of aliens on various occasions, and who knows if they survived. The point was that Kevin in no way thought of himself as someone with high moral standards, but what Ben did...

It... it just wasn't right.

It wasn't even the fact that Ben had killed a man. The... the guy had deserved it. He'd had it coming for even trying to...

The way Ben had brutally dug into the dead man's chest after the fact though, the way he had pulled out that glowing _thing_ and ate it.

Kevin shuddered. He couldn't get the image out of his head no matter how much he tried.

What if the glowing thing _had_ been the man's soul? That's what Kevin couldn't stop thinking about the most. What did it mean for that man if Ben actually _ate his soul? _Did the man just cease to exist? Was he permanently destroyed?

Kevin didn't consider himself religious in any real way, but if that glowing thing was the man's soul, then clearly that means that _something_ happens to the soul, right? Plus there was the fact that reviving Ben had partially involved getting his soul back from wherever it had been. So there had to be some sort of plan in place for after someone dies, which meant that Ben stopped that man's soul from doing whatever it was meant to do when he _ate it. _Destroyed it.

Completely obliterated everything that man had been.

"Aren't you even... a little guilty?" Kevin asked later on as they sat side-by-side on a park bench. "You know, for possibly eating what may have been that guy's soul?"

"No," Ben said, not even hesitating for a second on his answer. "That man was a threat to _Reviver."_

"Yeah, okay," Kevin said. "But afterwards, after you killed the guy, he wasn't a threat anymore. You really didn't need to... I mean, what does that even do to a person if you eat their soul?"

This was not a conversation Kevin thought he'd ever be having in his entire life.

"You're right," Ben said quietly. "Ceasing to exist was too good of a fate for that man."

That wasn't what Kevin meant at all.

A dark look passed over Ben's face as he concluded, "I should have let that man's soul suffer in the afterlife."

Kevin blinked, mildly taken aback at the turn the conversation had taken, and asked, "Ben... do you actually _remember_ something about being dead?"

"_Reviver _need not concern himself with such things," Ben said simply, all traces of brooding gone. "I would have eaten that man's soul if given the choice again though," Ben admitted a tad hesitantly. "There was just something in me that wanted it... It made me feel... more powerful."

Green eyes glanced over at Kevin, searching for some sort of approval. Getting more powerful was something Kevin would usually agree with. You had to be powerful to survive in this harsh universe. This soul eating business though... there was just too much of an unknown to it. It wasn't something he could agree with or approve of at all.

Kevin shook his head at the brunette, deciding to lay down the law here and now, "No. I... I can't let you do this again. No more eating souls."

"But if I don't get stronger, how can I protect you?" Ben asked in a wary voice, not wanting to go against Kevin's orders, but wanting Kevin to understand his reasoning all the same.

Sitting up a bit straighter, Kevin snapped, "I don't need to be protected by you or anyone else. Got it? No more eating souls from now on."

Ben frowned, not looking at all happy with the decision, but nodded anyways as he said, "If that's what _Reviver _wishes." The brunette slumped down a little in his seat. "No more eating souls."

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_That's all for now. Hope everyone's enjoying this so far! _

_Review please and tell me what you think. :)_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you everyone for all of your awesome reviews! Here's some more for Weapon and Wielder._

_Disclaimer: __I don't own Ben 10 and I don't own the various ideas that I'm borrowing from the Soul Eater series._

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**Scythe – Age 12**

Kevin cautiously nudged the small furry body with the toe of his boot, but the odd mutant bat creature remained still on the ground, thankfully no longer a threat. It had been one of about a swarm of thirty that had invaded his and Ben's most recent temporary shelter in an abandoned subway side-tunnel. Usually Kevin would laugh at the thought of something that small actually being of any concern, but the small creatures had sharp teeth and could fly, making them a formidable threat.

'_Better not get rabies from those bites,' _Kevin thought with a grimace.

Their battle with the swarm had actually been a little touch-and-go for a moment there. The bat creatures weren't all that bothered by the energy Kevin shot off at them and Ben could only reach so high with that blade arm of his, but then Ben of course pulled through at the last possible second in a true annoyingly _hero_ fashion when he upgraded his shape-shifting abilities (_shape-shifting _was really the only way Kevin could think of to describe what Ben did with his blade arm).

Kevin's gaze traveled from the bat creature to the weapon in his hands. He tentatively adjusted his grip on the double-bladed scythe's handle, staring down at one of the curved silver blades, and couldn't help but think about how weird this all was. Alright, _yeah, _it was a little cool, but still really freaking weird at the same time.

Rather than just transform his arm into a blade, Ben had completely transformed his _entire body _into a weapon. A double-bladed scythe no less, and Kevin was currently holding said scythe, which meant that he was actually holding Ben. If the blades were Ben's arms, then what did that make the handle, the part that he was holding onto?

No, he shouldn't think of it like that. He was just holding... a weapon, that's all, and Ben's mind just so happened to be _in_ that weapon.

...Like he said before, really freakin' _weird. _

"Ben?" he asked as he carefully examined the scythe, feeling kind of stupid for bothering to talk to the weapon at all.

To his surprise though, the scythe almost seemed to hum, a slight vibration traveling down the handle in his grasp, and on one of the blades' silver surface, the blade that he was actually looking at, the brunette's form faded into view from the shoulder's up like a faint reflection. Ben didn't say anything, just stared at him questioningly, and Kevin wondered if the other boy could even speak in this form.

"So, um.." Kevin began, fishing for words, because what did you even really say in a situation like this?

"Are you stuck like this, or can you change back?" he decided to ask, honestly really curious about this. If Ben was stuck as a scythe, then that would complicate things. A scythe wasn't exactly something you could go walking around the city with.

In answer to his question, the scythe became enveloped in white light with a pink tinge. The bright light traveled out of Kevin's hands like water and reformed not a foot away from him into Ben. The brunette took a moment to look around them at all the little bodies of the mutant bat creatures before he crouched down in front of one and reached out to it.

"Don't touch it," Kevin hissed, grabbing the other boy by the upper arm and pulling him away. "It's probably diseased." Dragging Ben back to his feet, Kevin said, "Come on, we should get our stuff and get out of here. Find somewhere else to stay. Who knows if more of those things will be coming this way."

Ben's eyes never left the bat creatures, and as Kevin began to lead him away, the brunette suddenly pulled against his grasp and said, "But... but, wait."

"What?" Kevin snapped, throwing Ben an irritated look.

Shoulder's slumping, Ben frowned as he said, "I dunno. I just have this feeling... like there's something I should do."

Rolling his eyes, Kevin sighed, "That's just the _hero _in you wanting to find out what those things are, find out where they came from, and then stop whatever evil plan someone's probably cooking up that involves those bat things. You're with me now, Ben, and we don't waste our time with that stuff."

'_No point in playing the role of hero when everyone already sees you as the villain... Whatever, heroes are dumb goody-two-shoes anyway.'_

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**Severed – Age 12**

Kevin grimaced as he ran the needle through flesh.

"Nasty, so, so _nasty,_" he muttered under his breath as he sewed Ben's hand back on at the wrist.

Really, it had only been a matter of time before this happened. Whoever had killed Ben had cut clean through his wrist, completely severing his hand from the rest of his body, and since Ben had already been dead by the time someone got around to reattaching the hand, there had been no need to reattach anything on the inside. Whoever had taken care of Ben's body at the morgue had only bothered to stitch the skin back together.

Even though Ben usually kept that arm in the sling Kevin had made for him, the brunette still occasionally tried to use that limb as one normally would, so Kevin really shouldn't have been too surprised when the stitches eventually wore away and Ben's hand fell off. He had been surprised though (startled, to put it lightly). Honestly, how could you not be surprised by someone's hand falling off?

'_Gross, gross, gross, gross.'_

At least Ben's magic had kept him from bleeding out all over the place. Why the magic in Ben didn't bother healing his wrist in the first place, Kevin didn't know.

'_Stupid magic.'_

Something had to be said about the strength of his stomach due to the fact that he managed to finish the job without throwing up even a little.

As Ben slid his arm back into the sling, Kevin said, "You better be more careful with that wrist, okay? I don't want to have to sew you back up again."

'_Ugh, super nasty.'_

Wouldn't it figure though that a couple months later, while Kevin was practicing handling Ben's scythe form, the end of one of the blades had snapped off completely. It had of course been the one blade in particular that had what looked like stitches engraved on its silver surface, wrapping around the blade's pointed end. As Kevin watched the broken blade piece clatter to the ground, an exasperated look passed over his face.

"That was your hand again, wasn't it?" he asked, deadpan.

The scythe hummed an affirmative in his grasp.

"Alright, that's it, we're finding someone to fix your wrist."

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**Growth Spurt – Age 12**

Kevin blinked at Ben in surprise. It had been so gradual before that he hadn't even noticed it, but there was no denying it now.

"You're taller."

Ben had actually grown, which really didn't make all that much sense in Kevin's mind. Kevin wasn't quite sure _what_ Ben was, but he had always thought of the brunette as being undead, and more like a zombie than anything. If books and movies taught him anything, it was that the undead aren't supposed to age. Of course, that was fiction and this was actually real.

Kevin supposed that this was actually a good thing now that he gave it some more thought. Although it wouldn't bother him at the moment if Ben was actually stuck at age ten, Kevin figured that by the time he was sixteen, he probably wouldn't appreciate having a ten-year-old following him around. As to how it was possible for Ben to age?

'_When in doubt, blame magic,' _Kevin thought with a mental sigh.

"You better not end up being taller than me," he told the brunette.

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**Breathless – Age 13**

Sometimes he just couldn't help it, this anger, this rage that he felt. It would rush through him and make his blood boil, and whether he could make sense of his anger or not, he kept noticing over and over that Ben always seemed to be at the center of it all. Ben, who had befriended him and then betrayed him. Ben, who had gone and got himself killed by someone else and then didn't even have the decency to come back _right. _Ben, who was just too easy of a target for Kevin, who never fought back.

'_Why don't you just fight back?'_

His fingers tightened around the brunette's throat.

'_Why do you just lay there and let me do this?'_

Ben, who was starting to make Kevin forget just why he hated the brunette so much. He was trying to trick Kevin or... or _something_ like that, trying to make Kevin fall for the whole 'friend' routine again what with that subtle kindness and _pretending_ that he actually cares about Kevin.

It was all an act. It had to be because there was no way Ben would actually care about Kevin. Why would Ben care about a messed-up kid like him? Why would the brunette care about someone who berated him and caused him pain? Ben wouldn't, _couldn't _care about Kevin. Nobody could.

So Kevin caused Ben pain as a way of laying down the law and drawing a line in the sand. By making the brunette hurt, he was letting Ben know that he wasn't falling for the act, and at the same time he was also reminding himself of the whole reason he even brought Ben back to life.

He grit his teeth as he squeezed Ben's neck with all the strength he could muster, cutting off the other boy's airflow.

This was what he wanted, wasn't it? Revenge? Payback?

Ben lay calmly on the rumpled sleeping-bag, staring up at Kevin through half-lidded eyes. He didn't struggle, he didn't fight, he didn't even make a choking noise, he just lay there and let Kevin strangle him. Kevin didn't let up though, just tightened his grip on Ben's neck and _watched._ He watched as Ben's lips turned blue, he watched as green eyes glazed over and coherency faded from their depths.

'_Maybe this time,' _he thought. '_Maybe this time he'll put up a struggle in his death throes.'_

But Ben didn't struggle, there were no death throes, just a peaceful exit... like there _always _was. Ben's eyes slid closed and his body became even more still than before.

Letting out a growl of frustration, Kevin released the other boy's neck and sat back. He fisted his fingers into his black hair and tugged, his breathing coming out in angry huffs as he glared at Ben's body. He didn't have to wait very long before Ben sucked in a sudden breath and coughed a few times.

'_Every single time,' _he thought with a sigh. '_Stupid magic.'_

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**Protector – Age 13**

It had taken some time to find someone who could fix Ben's wrist. It wasn't like they could just walk in to some free clinic or go to a hospital and expect some service without any trouble. Kevin had had to ask around, speaking to a variety of different shady people, and talk to one guy who knew another guy who knew another guy and so on and so forth. It had taken a lot of running around and traveling to different places, but eventually they got lucky and found a guy who had some alien technology that could fix Ben's wrist.

Kevin had of course been skeptical when they went to go meet the guy in an abandoned room down some back alley–he made sure to be all powered up on energy before the meeting–but the tall blond-haired man seemed legitimate enough and quickly got to work fixing Ben's wrist with the piece of medical alien tech.

"Fascinating," the man said as he eyed the faint pink glow around Ben's wound site that kept the brunette from bleeding while the man used what looked like lasers to fuse Ben's wrist back together. "What species of alien did you say he was?"

"I didn't," Kevin ground out, arms crossed over his chest.

The man hummed at the dismissal, but didn't ask anything else, and instead said as he worked, "The wrist will of course always be a weak point like any broken bone, but this should do the job of keeping everything attached."

Soon Ben was all healed up, a scar wrapping around the brunette's wrist was the only reminder left behind of the wound, and the only thing left to do was to pay the man. Finding something that was actually of any worth to trade the man for fixing Ben's wrist had also taken some time, but through a series of thefts and trades, Kevin managed to procure something that should easily cover the cost. He didn't see what was so special about the odd-looking cyan gem, but everyone else he came across seemed to find some sort of value in it.

"Actually, I had a different sort of payment in mind," the man said, looming over Kevin.

"You said this taedenite stuff would be enough," Kevin said accusingly, holding out the cyan gem as emphasis, his dark eyes narrowing up at the man.

"Originally, yes," the man said, a chilling smile stretching across his face. "but then I found out that I'm dealing with two little inexperienced alien children, so full of energy, and street kids to boot, with no real connections to anyone of any concern. The Plumbers won't bother me for having a small snack from some nobody children like you."

The man reached out, running the back of his fingers down the side of Kevin's face.

"I can't help my cravings, you know."

Kevin slapped the man's hand away, backing up a couple steps and letting energy crackle from his hands like blue electricity. Trying to keep the unnerved waver out of his voice, Kevin snapped, "You better back off, you pervert, you don't want to mess with me."

The man laughed, "Oh please, you think I'm threatened by some little Osmosian child?"

'_What's an Osmosian?'_

Before Kevin could respond, or even give any more thought on the 'Osmosian' thing, the man had slammed him up against the wall, his hands fisted up in Kevin's shirt, pinning him there. A black energy with white light that sparkled like stars poured from the man's hands and enveloped Kevin. Gasping, Kevin struggled against the man's grip as pain and a draining weakness accompanied the dark energy.

The sound of Ben's feet hitting the ground met Kevin's ears as the brunette jumped down from the desk he had been sitting on earlier during the medical exam. Before Ben could even take a step in their direction though, the man released one hand from Kevin's shirt and shot the dark energy at the brunette, quickly bringing the younger boy to his knees.

"Wait your turn, pinky," the man said before releasing Ben from his dark energy grip and turning his full power back on Kevin. Grin widening on his face, the man pressed Kevin even harder against the wall as he said, "Don't worry. I won't drain you completely. I'll leave _just enough_ for you both to live."

Kevin tried to fight the man off, tried to fight back with his own energy absorption powers, but the man was just too strong, and Kevin felt so weak; too weak to push the man away, too weak to put up much of a struggle, too weak to stop one of the man's hands from sliding up under his shirt...

A splash of warm liquid hit Kevin's chest, soaking into his shirt, and like someone had flipped a light-switch, the dark energy suddenly stopped and disappeared in blink. It took Kevin's mind several seconds to process what he was seeing, the sight of a large blade protruding from the man's torso, blood dripping off of its now stained silver surface.

The man stared down at the blade sticking out of him with a look of disbelief on his face, making a choking noise as blood poured from his mouth. Then, just as suddenly as Ben had struck, the brunette ripped the blade out of the man, sending the energy-sucking pervert crumpling to the ground. The man lay where he fell, gasping like a fish out of water as blood poured from the wound and began to form a puddle around him.

While Kevin backed away from the man's fallen form, Ben instead walked closer and the man stared up at him with wide eyes. His right arm still in blade form and a dark look on his face, Ben stretched out his left arm and, in a flash of light, turned that into a blade too–the pointed end of which now looked as if it had been welded back together rather than stitched back together. The man barely even managed to get out a choked noise of protest before Ben swung both blades down, hacking and slashing and violently extinguishing the man's life.

Panting from exhaustion, sagging weakly where he stood, Kevin covered his ears and shut his eyes against the scene, trying to drown out the sound of Ben tearing apart the man's now dead body. Kevin's eyes eventually slid open though; like a train wreck, like a car accident, like any gruesome scene, he couldn't help but look... and wonder...

Wonder what Ben was doing, wonder why Ben was still tearing at the man when it was clear that he was dead.

"Oh fuck," Kevin finally whispered.

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_That's all for this chapter, and now you know the story behind why Ben killed that man as previously mentioned in the chapters before (and in case you're wondering, the man Ben killed is of the same alien species as Darkstar, or Mike Morningstar). Hope everyone's enjoying things! (also, do you guys think this story should be rated 'M'?)_

_Review please and tell me what you think. :)_


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